After going through a playoff-style game on Thursday in their 6-3 home loss to the Washington Capitals, the Penguins took to the road for another game with playoff-like intensity yesterday against their cross-state enemy, the Philadelphia Flyers.
Yesterday's contest took on a completely different flavor, however -- literally and figuratively -- as the Penguins prevailed in a tight, defensive, special-teams contest, beating the Flyers 2-1 on the strength of a power play tally with about 90 seconds to play by LW Matt Cooke.
In the aftermath of the game, though -- and for the second time this season between these two clubs -- there was an allegation that one player bit another.
More on that in a minute.
On the ice, Pittsburgh was able to get back in the winning grove and can primarily thank their man-advantage and penalty killing units for it.
There were a lot of penalties called throughout the game, including a very interesting sequence which resulted in a big momentum shift early in the contest.
After the Flyers were able to get another bad goal early in the game on Pens' backup netminder Brent Johnson -- starting again to my surprise, since I heard the day before the contest that starter Marc-Andre Fleury was ready to play -- when BJ failed to stand tight to the post and allowed forward Jeff Carter to bank one in off him from behind the goal line (!!!!!!!!), it looked like Philadelphia went up 2-0 on a Mike Richards tally a few minutes later.
But just as the puck went in, one of the officials was in the course of calling penalties on Flyer forward Simon Gagne and Pens' center Evgeni Malkin after Malkin hit Gagne on the near boards.
While Gagne went after Malkin and grabbed him in a body hug after the hit, that was pretty much the extent of the interaction I saw. Not overly unusual, but obviously enough for the play to be blown dead in one of the official's minds.
Gagne and Malkin both received roughing minors on the play and Gagne also got an extra 2-minute call for high-sticking.
Frankly, I never saw a high stick, unless it happened when Gagne went to brace himself from the hit by Malkin along the wall. I suppose it's possible that was the case, but the whistle didn't blow until the players grabbed each other a good 2 seconds later.
Maybe the referree was going to let that call go until he saw the players grab each other and assumed he was going to need to blow the whistle at that point.
Regardless, the goal didn't count and, better still, the Penguins scored on the ensuing power play to tie the game when defenseman Sergei Gonchar blasted one past Flyers' netminder Ray Emery.
Philadelphia coach Peter Laviolette was particularly frustrated about that sequence after the contest, talking about how there were just too many penalties called in the game -- including calls that weren't really infractions.
Laviolette might be right about a few calls. Philadelphia had 9 power plays, and Carter's goal was the only chance the Flyers capitalized on. The Pens' penalty killers were especially sharp in defending those chances.
Meanwhile, Pittsburgh had 8 man-advantage chances of their own, and got both of their goals on them, including Gonchar's, AND Cooke's late in the 3rd period after Philadephia defenseman Kimmo Timonen was penalized for delay of game after shooting the puck over the glass.
So, while the special teams were paramount in the Penguins' victory -- and the Flyers' loss -- I can't say I completely disagree with Laviolette. Not so much on the delay of game call. That's just a rule. Nor on the goaltender interference call on Scott Hartnell, which Laviolette also complained about after the game. Hartnell made no attempt to avoid contact with Johnson on the play and, with Hartnell's reputation, he's going to get nailed for that every time.
I do, however, agree that, in an intense and physical game with these two clubs, there are some things you may want to let ride. The fact that many of the game's power plays were short advantages after even-up calls led to a lot of 4-on-4 play says that the officials might have been too ticky-tacky with the whistle.
Despite their propensity to make calls yesterday, however, what the referrees apparently missed -- according to the Flyers' camp anyway -- with about 5 minutes left in the game was a scrum in which Cooke bit Philadelphia hack Aaron Asham.
I'm sure most observers of the heated rivalry between these two clubs recall the incident between Scott Hartnell and Pens' defenseman Kris Letang earlier this year when Letang was tussling with Hartnell and came out of their scrum holding his hand and fingers in obvious distress.
After the game, Letang alleged that Hartnell bit him.
Hartnell -- the class guy he is -- said in response simply that, "a lot of stuff happens on the bottom of a pile".
For those who may not recall that, my post about that incident can be found here:
http://theboysofwinter.blogspot.com/2009/10/penguins-beat-flyers-add-new-twist-to.html
Like Hartnell, Cooke apparently didn't deny biting Asham yesterday, but there also isn't the same video evidence to prove that Asham was as incensed as one probably should be after being the victim of such an incident.
Instead, there's simply a series of post-game remarks where Asham calls Cooke names -- at the same time he says he respects him.
The Puck-Daddy blog on Yahoo sports has some of those words here:
http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/Penguins-Flyers-game-ends-with-another-biting-ac?urn=nhl,215377
A beat writer/blogger from the Delaware Valley Times claims that Cooke and Pens' forward Craig Adams were joking about the incident in the Pittsburgh locker room after the game.
His piece can be found here:
http://www3.allaroundphilly.com/blogs/delcotimes/anthonys/blog.html
One take from Pittsburgh? Here:
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/penguins/s_663908.html
And, perhaps the most brazen thing to come out of just the latest chapter in this great rivarly -- assuming you can get past the SECOND biting allegation in just one season between these two clubs -- came from the guy who had so much to say about the officiating after the contest.
When asked about how the Penguins continue to have the Flyers' number, Philadelphia coach Laviolette said, simply, that his club will beat Pittsburgh "when it counts". Go here for the take on that and the game in general from the city of 'brotherly love':
http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/flyers/20100125_Phil_Sheridan__A_method_in_Peter_Laviolette_s_words.html
http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/flyers/20100125_Tough_penalty_calls_in_loss_to_Penguins_spoil_Flyers__home_winning_streak.html
And so, after ruining the Flyers' 6-game home winning streak on national television, the Penguins move on to continue their national TV tour tonight on the second half of back-to-back nights against a team who used to be such a great rival -- and still is, but admittedly appears to be falling back these days -- the New York Rangers.
Pittsburgh faces off against them at 7 PM this evening (Versus) in Madison Square Garden.
Let's hope the players' fathers -- with the team yesterday and today for the club's annual father's trip -- continue to bring the boys the same good luck they have brought them on such trips in the last few seasons.
Marc-Andre Fleury is expected to be in goal tonight.
Recap tomorrow.
Let's Go Pens!
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